Piano Dress
by Senorita TacoMal
Summary: Well, she had hoped it was a love confession. Alternate version of the events of episode 21. Kagami x OC


Hey guys! Yeah, I know I've been bad by making another one-shot '^_^ I have been working on Tsukasa is Pregnant and Maturity! I've got little inspiration for the latter right now. For How iFeel, I had a cool idea but I forgot what it was! Everything else I think of is not as good or too cliche. I'm also working on a Left 4 Dead story, but it would not be a one-shot, and I'd like to finish the other three before starting another. Oh well... Just know I have not abandoned those stories!

I don't own Lucky Star. But I do own a fish tank with two fish in it. I don't say I own the fish, because even though I paid for them I'm not sure who owns who...

Enjoy in moderation!

* * *

A million fleeting thoughts swarmed in Kagami Hiiragi's mind. Her heart pounded dully against her chest as she indulged in them individually, for their lifespans of a split second. The thoughts had not slowed down in the hours since she'd discovered the note in her bag, only speeding up even more. Her heart continued with its rhythmic hymn of drumming, only speeding up or slowing down when a new wave of some sort of emotion-induced hormone invaded her body and made her blood run cold in the already cool night air.

Perhaps it was a joke. She didn't want to be cynical about this, but it was not a thought to be ruled out, much less the fact that that really was probably all it was. Her heart sunk, the pounding slowing down and becoming heavier. _"Look, Hiiragi really does have feelings," _some miscellaneous, poisonous voice in her head whispered. _"And here we thought she was stronger than that,"_ another hissed condescendingly. She felt their eyes on her, snickering from the warmth of their hotel room, laughing as they were finally able to "attack the demon".

She avoided the gaze of the clock tower that stood nearby; in her mind its plain columns and hands were a metaphor of sorts. She'd always figured something like this to be impossible to happen to her, plain, studious, kind of pudgy, and, in Konata's words (not that she cared,) "Type-A tsundere enough to scare the courage out of any guy within a fifty foot radius." The blue-haired girl had gone on to some ****mon reference about their Attack HP being reduced by half, but that and the ensuing argument were a story for another day. Of course she knew this was insane, seeing herself in a clock, but at the same time, it would be impossible not to wonder, what kind of person would want a clock so plain as that? What kind of person would want a girl so plain as her?

"W-well someone liked it enough to have it on display, " she murmured to herself under her breath. _'Could this really be a love confession!' _The shock of the whole situation was overwhelming her into repeating this same thought to the point that someone might think she had a mental disorder if they could step into her skin. She almost wished someone could take over for her right now; someone confident with a romantic mindset to die for. Someone who knew she wouldn't make a complete fool of herself. Someone who knew exactly what to say.

A look somewhere between horror and "Oh #*&!" leapt to life across her face as dread began to seep against her chest, through her heart, making its rhythm speed up for what _'What AM I going to say!' _ Her parents hadn't given them any rules about dating, except that it better not interfere with their other activities-

_'This is ridiculous.' _The thought cut off all others, a feat which she had become quite familiar with today. _'This has to be some cruel joke. No guys at this school would like me. They never did, even in elementary school.'_

* * *

-Flashback-

"Look, It's Hiiragi the human piano again!" the voice of a young boy rang out from the school yard.

Kagami sighed, her tiny second-grade hands clenched into fists as she entered the yard. Tsukasa followed in her pink dress and matching jacket, offering some obscure words of comfort that were not making it into Kagami's thought processes. _'Thanks and all, sissy, but your words don't make theirs any better.'_ she thought. She puffed out her chest, lowered her eyelids, and turned her mouth into a tough frown as she got closer.

"Oi, Hiiragi, when I press this, what happens?" A boy who was previously hanging out with the one who called out pressed one of the stripes on her black and white stockings, right at her ticklish spot. She giggled and flinched involuntarily before resuming her tough composure. "S-stop it right now! I didn't say you could touch me!"

Orignally this outfit had been love at first sight for her when she spotted it at the clothing store, adorable black and white stockings, skirt with a musical bar wrapped around entwined with notes in random patterns, the buttons coordinating with the jacket to form a row of eight notes. Everything about it was beautiful. She'd began carefully saving the little allowance she got in order to get it. However, one day Inori noticed and pointed out that by the time Kagami saved enough to buy it, it wouldn't fit her anymore. Kagami had cried for hours straight until her parents came home. The very next day, she was wearing the outfit, having received a gracious "loan" from her parents. Sadly, that was when the trouble started. The boys were always looking for a way to pick on Kagami and make her squirm, and this was their target. She didn't want her sisters or parents to know (with the obvious exception of Tsukasa, who had pinky sworn not to tell) that something was wrong at school, and the absence of her new favorite outfit from her wardrobe would do it, so every once in a while she was forced to endure this hell.

"What about this one?" the boy who'd originally called out shoved his hand up her skirt, poking one of the higher-up stripes, causing the young Kagami to gasp and blush in embarrassment, before automatically swinging her elbow backwards in his direction. It connected with his face painfully, knocking him well-off his balance. "Itaitaitai…" he hissed. "Hiiragi, you hit like a boy!"

"And I'll hit you again if you ever do that again, you poopy-face!" She jutted out her tongue and squeezed her tongue.

"Oh no, it's the wrath of Hiiragi!" The two boys looked at each other with mock scared faces, holding their hands up and wriggling their fingers for emphasis before running away laughing.

"And where do you think you're going!" She yelled, only after exclaiming this realizing that the encounter had attracted a small crowd of attention. Her face instantly melted from one of rage into one of embarrassment.

"To warn our friends never to marry Kagami-oni, if they want to live to old age!" one yelled back.

-End Flashback-

* * *

The clock tower chimed softly, as if singing only to itself. The ninth chime, with nothing to echo off of, disappeared as quickly as it had seemingly come.

She lifted her head slightly, looking for anyone coming. No one in sight, so far. She gave a small sigh, and began petting the hair from her twin-tail that cascaded over the front of her shoulder. The thoughts had been taken away into the wind along with the nine-o'-clock chimes, and all that was left was her pounding heart and a single butterfly tickling her insides.

The butterfly quickly multiplied into hundreds when she saw a figure in her school uniform approach her. Guys from Ryoo had been walking up and down the street all night; curfew wasn't until 9:30, but there was something about this one that made her feel that this was it.

It was.

He came to a stop about six feet in front of her, but the darkness of this side of the street prevented her from identifying him. She was nearly certain he wasn't in hers or Tsukasa's class, but she couldn't be absolutely sure yet. She stood to meet him and walked closer to him.

"W-was this okay when you said in front of the hotel?"

He put a hand behind his head nervously and grunted shyly in reply, making her come closer to the conclusion that this was a love confession. Either that, or someone really wanted her to believe that.

"Did you wait?"

She shook her head in reply, finding words a bit sluggish to come for a second. "So, what did you want to talk about…?

"You're about the only person I can say this to, Hiiragi."

Silence. A car blared its horn in the background, its sound echoing in Kagami's head.

"Do you recognize me, Hiiragi-san?"

She squinted in the low light, still unable to distinguish this boy's face.

"Sorry, the light's really low, so…"

He chuckled lightly in response while squatting down. "Will you remember if I touch you here?" He gave a light tap to her kneecap.

In an instant, she knew exactly who the boy- _man_ was.

* * *

[From a room on the third floor…]

"THE PRESSURE'S TOO MUCH! I HAVE TO KNOWWW! Are they old friends? Old lovers? Was this a love confession! SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!"

"I'm pretty sure you can cross lover off of your list, Kona-chan," Tsukasa said with a small awkward laugh. "Can I use the binoculars now?"

"I guess," Konata said reluctantly. She'd been hogging them for the duration of this episode, ever since she spotted the twin-tails from her window. Tsukasa was very frustrated by this fact, but all of that washed away once she was handed the lenses.

"I'm telling you though, it's impossible to tell who he-"

"NO WAY, that can't be Shihira Chiaki!"

"Is he from class 3-A?"

"That has to be him! What's going on; sis has hated him all her life!" Her voice was desperately confused.

"Oh, but Tsukasa! That's the tsundere way!"

"I'm dead serious Konata," a statement she augmented with a serious look toward Konata, "she can't stand him! This has suddenly become tenfold more interesting!"

"It certainly has," Miyuki replied. She hadn't been too interested in the issue, choosing instead to read the book she'd brought with her and wait for updates.

"Could it be a love confession, Tsukasa? Give us some background."

* * *

[Back outside]

It couldn't be.

"Chiki Shihima!" she nearly screamed as her eyes went so wide she was afraid they might fall out. "YOU wrote me the note!"

By this time he had stood back up and was rubbing the back of his honey-blonde head again. "Shock, huh? We haven't spoken in… eight years now?"

"No, we've spoken since then. You just haven't teased me in eight years. I haven't been counting, but I believe we haven't spoken in three." Her posture was different now, every butterfly in her system metamorphasized into confidence. And a tad bit of curiosity. Her hands had found their way to her hips and the look on her face wasn't pleasant.

"That's what I meant, sorry. And… sorry's why I'm here too."

"You could have mentioned that before you had me thinking you sent me a love confession."

"Perhaps," he said vaguely. "Look, Hiiragi, I'm no expert with words, but I'll try my best, so hear me out. I'm putting everything on the line here. When we were in elementary school you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I thought that of you from the first day of kindergarten." The expression on her face softened and one hand dropped from its hardened position to her side. "You never gave me the time of day, though. You were always so calm and collected. I could never make you smile or laugh or anything. Eventually I guess it just got to the point where I didn't know how to deal with my emotions, being a little kid, so I strived to make you feel anything I could. The only thing I could ever make you feel was anger, though. Making you angry and having you notice me was better than being ignored. Eventually that wore off when we got older, but I never stopped paying attention to you, Hiiragi. I just never knew how to tell you, and I realized later that I probably destroyed any chance of getting on your good side. So, I guess you can say in a way this is a love confession, but it's more begging for forgiveness. Oh, and by the way, I always liked your piano dress. I thought it was your best one."

"Shihira…" she murmured, completely awestruck. "I… in elementary… in kindergarten, I liked you a little bit too, but I didn't know how to manifest my feelings either, so I just ignored you. I... guess... I also owe you an apology. To think this whole time…" She began to chuckle slightly before bursting into full-on laughter.

"Hiiragi?"

"S-sorry," she said between laughs, "It's just that… this entire time… it was also my fault, and it was because we liked each other."

He grinned widely. "That is pretty ironic."

"So," Kagami said, once she'd calmed down, "where does this leave us?"

Chiaki paused. "Huh… I don't really know, honestly I didn't expect to get this far; I thought you'd elbow me in the face like you did with Kazuma or something.

"What's he up to anway?"

He shrugged in response. "We stopped talking after we went to different middle schools.

"Ah, I see."

"I would really like to try and be friends, at least for right now. Maybe if we liked each other that's where we should have started off at first."

"Yes, I agree. Although now I feel bad because I was the reason we were never friends." She smiled heartily. "B-but don't get the wrong idea, you're not totally off the hook for being so mean! I loved that dress so much..."

"The piano one?"

"Yeah."

He reached out and cupped the now blushing tsundere's hand in his own. "Those were the days that you were the most beautiful. Eh, oh, sorry, I got carried away," he said upon Kagami's lack of response and increasingly red face. "Would you like to sit out here and talk until we have to go in? We still have about twenty-three minutes." He sat on the bench Kagami had occupied earlier and beckoned for her to come sit, which she did.

"I'd like that a lot, um… how do I refer to you now?"

"I guess I'd prefer Chiaki, but I don't think I could ever get used to you not calling me Shihira."

Kagami smiled. "I was actually going to say the same thing."

"So Hii- Kagami, you like the Haruhi light novels, right?"

"Oh yes, but sometimes I feel like they're a little…"

* * *

[In the room...]

"And that's how it always went."

"See, Tsukasa, that's clearly a story of young love between two tsunderes. I'm guessing that neither of them knew how to express how they felt and it lead to a misunderstanding that caused them both to hate one another."

"Oh, it looks like Kagami-san is saying goodnight to Shihira-san," Miyuki said, looking at the two. In the next instant three faces were pressed against the window, utterings of, "romantic goodnight; romantic first kiss~!" coming from the otaku.

She didn't get her wish, instead they watched as Shihira wrapped her in a hug. Hesitantly, Kagami raised her hands to his back, burying her face in his his chest.

* * *

[Outside]

_"I kept you out here in the cold so long, at least let me warm you up."_

_"Well... I guess a quick hug wouldn't-"_

_She let out an involuntary sigh as he pulled her into his chest. "Shihira... I can hear Shihira's heart."_

When he let go, the cold air that rushed in left her feeling empty. "Goodnight, Hiiragi-chan."

"Un... H-hey, who said you could call me Hiiragi-chan!"

He smirked before turning around. "You're cute when you're flustered, but if you keep making that mad face you'll get wrinkles."

And then she was alone.

"Mou... well, whatever, I'll catch cold, so I best get inside and have some tea."

As she walked up the stairs to the room, a thought hit her so suddenly that she sank to her knees.

"It really was... a love confession!"

"WELCOME BACK KAGAMI!"

"Now, now, what are you all so cheery about?" she said, trying to maintain her normal composure. Her three friends had greeted her with suspicious smiles. She removed her jacket, hanging it on the hook by the entry with care to make sure it looked neat.

"Oh-ho, Kagamiiiiin," Konata said in that certain voice, "Shouldn't you be a little more happy yourself, seeing as you just got a LOOOOOOVE CONFESSION?"

Kagami's face progressed from flushed to candy apple to scarlett over the course of Kagami's statement, with her emotion changing from calm to "holy crap, they saw it".

"I-I-I-It wasn't like that!"

"Ne, sis, was that really Shihira-san?"

"Yeah, but, but-"

"Congratulations, Kagami-san!"

"SHUT UP, MIYUKI!"

"Are you dating? When's the wedding?"

Kagami screamed out of frustration and dived onto her sleeping pad, covering herself in the sheets.

"What did he say, sis?"

"Now, now ma'am, Miss Hiiragi is not taking any further questions at this time," Konata bellowed in an imitation of a security guard.

"It... was a misunderstanding. He teased me because he liked me."

"Oh-ho, as I thought!"

"So are you thinking about dating him?"

"I-"

"Oi, Hiiragi!" someone said, their voice muffled by a knock on the door.

"SAKURADA-SENSEI!" the aforementioned Hiiragi jumped up and yelled.

"Yeah, it's me," she said in what seemed like an exaggeratedly loud tone. "Listen, I'll let you off the hook this time, but if you want to make you and your boyfriend public business, don't do it on a school trip. Er, next time have more consideration."

Silence.

Konata burst out in a side-splitting laugh, followed by Tsukasa's giggles. Even Miyuki had to hide her chuckling.

"OH MAN, how embarrasing was that?"

"Sis, you have the worst sensei!"

"Sorry, Kagami-san, but it really was funny."

The horror stricken Kagami was able to do nothing but sink slowly back into the safe haven of her sleeping pad.

"I'm going to bed..."

Under the covers, she opened her clenched fist to reveal a folded sheet of paper:

#7 Half Fortune

_'Those who pulled this slip are destined for more fortunate times, as your worries and hardships from the past will gradually fade away. It's best to begin planning out your future...'_

* * *

The piano dress comes from a Lucky Star game guide. One of the bonus pictures has a young Kagami wearing a black and white music-themed dress with striped stockings and looking sad, with Tsukasa in a pink skirt and jacket.

Sorry for the weak ending, but I really wanted to get this story up and over with, and every time I tried to end it, it wouldn't stop. Well, I hoped you liked it!


End file.
